


There for Me

by sakabelle



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff and Smut, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-15
Updated: 2014-10-15
Packaged: 2018-02-21 06:57:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2458994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sakabelle/pseuds/sakabelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liam's always looking out for Niall, and Niall's always keen to return the favour.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There for Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hybryd0](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hybryd0/gifts).



> Many thanks to Caitlin for her awesome beta skills x
> 
> The prompt I used was, "Five times Liam takes care/protects Niall and the ways Niall thanks him for it."

**

– 1 –

**

 

“Niall,” Liam chases after him down the halls of the X Factor studios. “Niall.”

Niall doesn't stop, walking as briskly as his short legs will take him. Away from the audience, away from the rest of the group, away from Simon.

“Not your best performance, boys.” Simon's words still ring through Niall's head, stinging more and more each time they repeat. He thought they'd actually done quite well – they'd rehearsed enough. And what was it all for? Nothing – because now Niall was sure they were going to get kicked off of the show and he was going to have to go back to Ireland and leave this exciting life behind.

Niall takes a deep breath and pushes open the back door. There are a flurry of girls outside of course – clinging to the chain link fence hoping to get a glimpse of them. Lot of good that would do – this was probably the last time they'd ever show up there since they were done now.

The door doesn't even have a chance to slam shut because Liam's right on Niall's heels. He pushes through the doorway in his effort to catch up to him.

It's futile for Niall to keep walking away – the fence will stop him eventually. And he won't get close to the girls anyway.

They scream as soon as they see Niall and Liam of course. It seems like they get louder every week and that's probably because they're multiplying.

Niall stops in his tracks, staring out at the girls. He gulps and raises his hand to wave at them. It's like there's buzzing in his brain – too much going on that he can't focus on anything. The performance, Simon's criticism, the fear of getting kicked off the show, the fear of the girls breaking down the fence and charging at him.

The only thing Niall can hear is himself breathing. He hardly feels Liam's hand land on his shoulder.

“Niall,” Liam tries again, breaking through the white noise barrier in Niall's brain.

“Yeh,” Niall just says, trying to play it cool. Like he's not fussed at all. Which is a load of crap because the only reason they're out here is because Liam's chased after him.

“You alright mate?”

The girls are still screaming and Niall's still mentally berating himself for fucking up the performance. No, he's not alright. And while he can't bring himself to tell Liam that, he also can't bring himself to lie.

So he just stands there, staring at the girls and breathing heavily.

“Come on, let's get you inside, yeah?” Liam smiles, even though Niall doesn't see him. He also doesn't see Liam look up at the girls, smile and wave. Which causes them to scream even louder.

Niall notices that. Just as Liam notices him makes a low, wincing sound.

Liam tightens his grip on Niall's shoulder, pulling him back towards the door. “Come on,” he says softly. Niall obliges, walking back to the door with Liam. Walking back into the studio, back into the quieter hallway. Even though once the door closes they can still hear the muffled shouts.

They can't see them though, and finally Niall relaxes. Though now he's back to square one – being worried about the performance.

They've only been a group for a few months, but Liam still knows what Niall's thinking. It's hard not to – he's thinking the same thing. But he doesn't get as worked up about those kinds of things as Niall does.

“We'll do better on the next one,” Liam promises. He pulls Niall into a tight hug as he tries his best to reassure him.

Niall slowly nods, burying his head into Liam's chest.

“We're not getting kicked off. I mean, those girls are still going to vote, don't you think? Probably voting from their mobiles right now,” he laughs. He's not as confident as he sounds, but he's good at faking it. For Niall's sake.

“Yeh,” Niall replies, because he supposes Liam's right. Those girls are all out there for the five of them, after all. They don't bring signs or gifts for any other act. “Yeh,” he says more confidently, pulling away from Liam and offering him a half-smile. It doesn't exactly show off his crooked teeth, but it's enough for Liam to know he's feeling better.

He licks his lips and stands on his toes, kissing Liam softly on the cheek. “Thanks,” he says when he pulls away.

Liam blushes a little bit. His heart flutters as the feeling of Niall’s lips still tingle on his cheek, but he doesn't let it faze him. “You're welcome,” he grins, slinging his arm around Niall as they walk through the halls to join the rest of the group.

 

**

– 2 –

**

 

The recording studio is starting to feel like home, they've spent enough time here over the past few months.

And now, today, finally, they're recording what has been decided will be their lead single of their debut album. Decided by the record company and by the boys themselves this song is perfect for them to burst on the scene and show their fans who have been waiting since X Factor that they're in it for the long haul.

“It's just,” Carl says to them as they sit around, discussing who'll sing what part. Or rather, argue about who sings what verse and why they only need to record harmonies now. “It's a powerful song with a lot of strong vocals.”

“Uh huh,” Louis says, sitting there with his index finger resting on his eyebrow. He's actually the one who started the argument. Niall stayed silent, even though he agreed with everything Louis was saying.

“Your voice is better suited to making the harmony richer on the chorus,” Carl shrugs, as though this is completely obvious. And really, it should be. But Louis never takes criticism without a fight.

Niall just sits there listening quietly, fiddling with the sleeve of his jumper and trying not to equate everything that's being said about Louis to himself as well.

But it's difficult when they're in the exact same situation. He hadn't even been asked to try for a solo – just told he was singing top harmony. That's it. Their first ever song that will hopefully make it to radio and he won’t even be able to pick himself out.

“Translation, you gave solos to the only good singers in the group,” Louis says with a loud sigh and a roll of his eyes.

There's a thick silence in the room after that. Liam glances over at Niall and he bites the inside of his cheek. When he sees him sitting there pouting. He knows that Niall is taking every word to heart. And he knows damn well that he’s also using every ounce of willpower to not make it obvious.

Niall really wants to stop listening. He really does. He wants to not care about what Carl's response is and not twist Louis's words in his mind to affirm that Louis doesn't think either of them are good at singing or an important part of the group.

But he can't. It's the quality he hates about himself the most. He wants to not care, he wants to just laugh these things off and not worry. But they stick and buzz in his mind until they drive him insane.

“We gave solos to the strongest vocalists suited for the parts,” Carl says in the most diplomatic way possible. Then he stands up because he's obviously done arguing with Louis. “Top harmony,” he says, looking over at Niall. “In the booth.”

Niall nods, walking over to the glass doors with his hands in his pockets. 

Liam watches him go, and he can’t go any longer without saying anything. “Smash it, Nialler!” he calls after him, clapping his hands a little bit and grinning at him. This is the best he can do, because he’s not about to start another round of the argument. It’s not worth it, and it won’t help anyway. But boosting Niall’s confidence will.

He’s right. 

Niall sighs a bit, feeling better when he looks at the way Liam's eye crinkle when he smiles at him. He gets over to the booth, looking back at Liam one last time before closing the doors.

He always has this way of making him feel better.

* * *

There's a persistent knocking on Liam's hotel room door literally as soon as he lays down on the bed. He has some idea of who it could be – and his suspicions are confirmed when he opens the door to a mess of blonde hair and a purple jumper.

“Good session today, yeah?” Niall asks, not even bothering to say hello. He's beaming.

“Yeah,” Liam nods, it really was a good session and he'd left it feeling excited about their future as a group. It really was going to be a good single. He could practically feel it.

“Listen,” Niall says, looking down and fidgeting with the bottom of his jumper. He doesn't even know how to thank Liam for his confidence. Liam hadn't even really done anything – just grinned at him and cheered him on. But after that he felt okay. Better than okay – he thought he'd done Liam proud. Even though he was only top harmony, he thought he really did smash it.

So maybe one day he'll get more solos.

He glances up at Liam's face. His soft features, his warm brown eyes and his thick eyebrows. He's actually quite lovely. Which prompts Niall to express what he's feeling in the only way he knows how.

He leans upwards and kisses Liam square on the mouth.

And thank god – Liam doesn't push him away in disgust. Instead he wraps his arms around Niall and pulls him in closer. He pulls him into the hotel room, their lips still connected and the door slams shut behind them.

They keep standing right at the door, kissing and holding each other until Niall finally pulls away.

“What...” Liam starts, leaning his head downwards. This is the last thing he expected when he opened the door. But it’s not bad – it’s definitely not bad. 

“I just,” Niall mutters, not really knowing what to say. He's actually wanted to do that for a long time and now it seems silly to just pin it on his gratitude. But there's really no other way to explain it and that was sort of the reason his feelings decided to bubble over... 

“I smashed it,” he grins.

Liam just laughs, shaking his head. There’s nothing he likes more than to see Niall smiling. “Yeah, you did.”

 

**

– 3 –

**

 

The first headlining tour is gruelling and seemingly never ending. More dates keep getting added – including a leg in America. Which the boys are thrilled about. The venues are breathtaking and the hotels are lavish. Everything is a laugh.

Their hotel in Miami is particularly lavish and they’ve spent the evening out celebrating yet another successful show. They’d been out in the hotel restaurant with some of the crew having a couple of drinks with the usual promise of keeping it hushed. Niall gets rowdy when he’s running on pints and excitement, and eventually Liam had to drag him back up to their floor.

Somewhere between the fifth and sixth floors, there’s a loud thunk. Liam glances over at Niall and it’s clear he hasn’t realised yet what’s going on.

They’re stuck.

“That was fast,” Niall comments, looking up at the numbers above the doors. Their floor is the top one.

“Yeah,” Liam says, his eyebrows furrowed. He silently prays that this’ll get sorted out before Niall’s claustrophobia sets in. The light is stuck on 5 – they've still got thirty floors to go. “Weird.” He presses penthouse again, but nothing happens. They stay where they are and the doors don't open.

“Um,” he gulps, pressing the button again because he's not sure what else to do. “I think...” 

Niall's going to flip out, that's what he thinks. The younger boy is standing behind him with a bit of a puzzled expression on his face. 

“Something's gone wrong,” Liam says slowly, pressing the button one last time for good measure.

“What?” Niall asks, his voice shaking a little bit with panic. “What's gone wrong?”

“I think we're stuck,” Liam replies, and there it is. He looks back at Niall and the smile – along with all of the colour is gone from his face.

“Stuck?” Niall repeats, his mouth going dry. They can't be stuck. The lift is so small and there's not enough space and his chest starts to tighten and thank god Liam's there with him because he probably would have passed out by now if he was alone.

“Yeah,” Liam nods, hitting the alarm button. Nothing happens. He glances over at Niall, who's leaning back against the corner of the lift and breathing heavily. Liam shakes his head, pulling out his mobile phone. At least he has service, thankfully. He calls Paul and quickly lets him know that they're stuck in the lift and to get help soon. Please.

Then he shoves his phone into his pocket and looks back at Niall.

“Hey,” he says softly, leaning in close to him. “I just called Paul, it's gonna be fine.”

“Uh huh,” Niall replies, trying to take deep even breaths to try and calm down.

“We're completely safe, it's alright,” Liam nods, looking at Niall. Niall swallows, nodding his head. He pulls Liam in for a hug, trying his best to not worry so much. He can't – they're on their first tour. In America of all places. He won't let this ruin it.

Liam still holds onto him and it's nice. Soothing, calming. Liam's always been there for him and again Niall thanks god that he's the one trapped with him. Not Louis – who'd just be making a big joke out of it all.

Much like he did back at the hotel in Stockholm, Niall leans in and kisses Liam. Nothing had really come out of that back then – they'd just gone on like normal. But there's always been a special place in Niall's heart for Liam. And maybe Liam feels the same, because he's kissing Niall back.

It's more aggressive this time, and Niall doesn't care. In fact, he welcomes it because it's something he's wanted for a long time. He pulls Liam closer to him, kissing him hungrily as they lean against the back wall. He even rolls his hips against Liam's a little bit, groaning into the pressure.

“Is this okay?” Liam asks, breaking their kiss only for a second and looking into Niall’s eyes. All he wants is for Niall to stop worrying. Okay – and maybe he wants to keep making out with him. If he’s being totally honest.

“Better than okay,” Niall replies, kissing him again and gripping Liam's hips as they move against each other. His breathing is still heavily, but it’s more even and less panicked than it was before. He’s actually in even more of a confined space with Liam against him, but that hardly matters. In fact, it’s making all of this easier and far less horrible.

Niall actually had a wank that morning, but he's ready to go again. Liam's strong body against his own is enough to get heat building up in his stomach. His cock is hard and aching for more friction, so he grinds against Liam harder.

Liam moans and nips at Niall's lower lip as they move against each other. This isn’t how he expected this to happen – in a stuck lift of all places. But he doesn't exactly care as Niall's small body writhes against his own. His head is spinning and after a few minutes he completely forgets where they are.

Which is probably a good thing, because had he remembered and took just a second to think about this logically he might have stopped.

“Liam,” Niall whispers, sighing as he grips Liam's hips harder and tenses up. Liam pulls away from Niall's mouth, sucking at his neck and continuing to grind against him. A few seconds after Niall he comes too, breathing heavily and kissing Niall on the mouth.

They pull away from each other each looking messy and sweaty. It's then that Niall bursts out laughing. 

“That was...”

He can't continue, because the lift shifts and starts moving again. They both look up at the lights – blinking one by one until they finally reach the penthouse.

“Perfect timing, I suppose.”

“Yeah,” Niall grins. He completely forgot that the lift was stuck in the first place.

 

**

– 4 –

**

 

“What are those?” Louis asks, as the five of them stand on the edge of the lake.

“Giant balls,” Harry says, and Zayn snickers behind him.

They're on the set of their video for Live While We’re Young and they've been partaking in ridiculous antics all day. The concept of the video is pretty relaxed – just a day out with friends having a laugh. They've sat around, sang the song on hay bails, spent some time in a tent and drove around on a jeep.

And now, apparently, they're going to be shoved into giant balls on the lake.

Niall laughs and tries to hide his displeasure. This is the worst thing they've done for a music video possibly ever.

“Yeah,” the director says as though this is totally normal. “We're going to film you in them.”

Louis raises his eyebrow like he wants to make some kind of remark, but he actually refrains.

Niall scratches his arm and looks out at the balls again. Everything about this is horrible. There's no way he's getting into one of those. “Looks like fun,” he says instead of what he's actually thinking, because he doesn't want the others to think he's getting worked up over nothing.

And while the others shrug, Liam just gives him a look. Because even though Niall didn't say it, he’s well aware that Niall’s growing anxious about all of this.

“I suppose,” Louis shrugs, walking over to one of the balls and poking at it.

“Is this really necessary? We have enough stuff for the video,” Liam says, looking at the director and then glancing over at Niall.

“I think it'd fit well,” the director nods.

“He's really claustrophobic you know,” Liam says, glancing over at Niall.

“Pffft,” Niall snorts, waving Liam off. There's no way he's going to let this silly fear of his interfere with their video shoot. Besides, the ball isn't that bad. At least it's clear – sort of. He'll be able to see out of it. So that's fine. It's really fine. He grins over at Liam. 

“It's fine.”

Liam gives him another look, but then he just sighs. He’s clearly not going to be able to talk Niall out of this. “Alright.”

Of course, as soon as he's inside the stupid ball Niall regrets this decision immediately. They shoot for a bit and Niall tries his best – he really does but it's hard for him to keep his balance in the ball and he ends up falling over more times than he can count.

He glances over at the others. His vision is sort of distorted on account of the plastic, but he can see the rest of them are laughing and enjoying themselves. Outwardly he was too – for about five minutes. Until he lays down and looks upwards at the top of the sphere.

How's he going to get out of here? Did anyone think of that? It's plastic for fuck's sake and they're on a lake and what's going to stop him from floating away?

He bites the inside of his mouth to try and stop himself from freaking out too much, but it doesn't really work. Tears sting in his eyes and he just wants to be back on land and breathing fresh air and not the chemical plastic scent of the ball that's also full of his sweat.

He was right before. Everything about this is awful. He hits the inside of the ball with his hand – trying to get the attention of someone so that they can get him out of here.

It seems like it takes hours – because they're still filming the other lads and have apparently forgotten completely about him trapped in the ball.

They haven’t of course. By some stroke of luck they finish filming Liam first and he scampers out of the ball and back out onto the shore. The first thing he does when he’s standing up again is glance over at Niall.

He’s just lying there in his ball, staring upwards and not moving. Liam knows Niall well enough to know when he’s done. 

“Oi,” Liam motions over to the direction, but no one pays him any attention. “Oi!” he shouts louder and this time someone looks over at him.

“Get him out of the ball,” he points towards Niall. 

The direction shakes his head and goes back to looking at the camera. “Don’t have enough good shots of him yet,” he says.

Liam’s all but enraged by hearing this. They’re not about to get another good shot of him – and they won’t for the rest of the day if they don’t get him out of that ball soon.

“I think you do, mate,” Liam says though gritted teeth. Normally he wouldn’t be acting like such a prick, but Niall’s really beginning to worry him. “He’s gonna be sick in that ball if you don’t get him out and I overheard the stylists saying they don’t have any spares of his clothes.”

The director sighs, but he shrugs his shoulders and nods his head. A couple of stage hands run over to Niall and help to get it on the shore, and Liam just rolls his eyes. Niall they don’t give a shit about – but his clothes? Well that’s a whole other story.

But it doesn’t matter, because a couple of minutes later Niall’s crawling out of the ball and gasping for air like he hadn’t had enough before.

“You alright?” Liam asks, rushing over to him. “I told them to let you out, but they wanted to get more shots of you.”

“Fuck that,” Niall grits out, staring at the grass. He won't let himself cry.

Liam just nods and pats Niall on the back, letting his hand linger there. Niall glances up at Liam and smiles at him. Liam's always looking out for him – he has no idea what he'd do without him. Probably curl up into a ball and cry and be a lot less fun for the rest of the group.

The rest of the video shoot goes off without a hitch. They’re going to film again the next day (in a pool, apparently) but for now, the sky is dim and the crew has called it a night.

“That was a bit of a day,” Liam laughs, slinging his arm around Niall as they begin to walk off the set. 

“Yeah,” Niall replies with a bit of a shrug. He glances behind him. No one else is paying them any attention. They’re all too eager to get home for the night before they do it all again tomorrow. “Let’s go back over to the tent.”

Liam furrows his eyebrows, but he takes Niall's hand anyway and walks back to the tent area. It's sort of obvious what Niall has in mind. Ever since their romp in the lift, their relationship has been a bit more than that of good friends.

Nothing official, just a lot of kissing, quick handjobs and the occasional blow when they're in a hotel. It's fun and it's easy.

“Niall,” Liam says once they get into the tent and Niall throws himself at him. He kisses Liam's mouth before moving down his chest and unzipping his jeans.

“You don't have to do this,” Liam says, even though he really, really wants him to.

Niall looks up at Liam, a small smile playing on his lips. “Always looking out for me, Li.”

Liam sighs and leans back. He can't actually say no to Niall's adorable face. Especially when that adorable face is full of his cock. He glances over at the zipped up tent – he hopes the other boys have enough sense to not bother them.

They haven't told them anything about their relationship or whatever it is, but he thinks they're onto them. The five of them are close enough that it'd be weird if they didn't notice anything. But at least none of them have said anything, but Liam doesn't know how he'd describe it if he tried.

Perfect is the only word that comes to Liam's mind as Niall's mouth moves along his cock. He's so good at this – knows exactly how slowly to start out and how fast to move. All the right places to touch to get him off.

“Niall,” Liam moans, digging his fingers into Niall's hair and not caring that he's messing it up. The stylists are probably going to get pissed off – but they're always pissed off so that doesn't matter.

Niall keeps sucking on his cock, wrapping his hand around the base and flicking his tongue against the head.

Niall's lips are soft and wet and Liam has to fight to keep from moaning and alerting anyone who happens to still be around as to what's going on. He thrusts his hips upwards instead, and Niall takes this as a sign to move faster. He squeezes tighter and bobs his head faster until Liam groans and comes in his mouth, hitting the back of his throat.

Another thing that's perfect about Niall is that he always swallows without so much as a flinch.

“Jesus,” Liam sighs, falling onto his back.

Niall just grins, wiping his mouth with his thumb. “Come on,” he says, offering Liam a hand up. “Long day tomorrow.”

Liam nods, zipping his jeans back up before following Niall out of the tent.

 

**

– 5 –

**

 

New York City's population must have tripled overnight, Niall's sure of it.

This isn't the first time they've been in the city. Not by a longshot. But it is certainly the craziest. All of their families are there, and their entire fanbase must be there too, judging by the size of the crowd outside of the hotel.

And all Niall wants is a slice of New York city pizza. It's ironic, they're here to play Madison Square Garden as the highest accomplishment of their career and all he wants is to be normal for five minutes so he can go outside and not worry about the crowd.

Of course, that's impossible because he's just standing at the window looking down at the mob and he's already worried.

But he really wants pizza and he's not about to let this crowd of girls stop him. There's got to be a way to get around them. So he sighs and walks over to Liam's hotel room.

“Let's go get pizza,” he says when Liam answers the door.

Liam raises his eyebrow. “Are you mad?”

Niall shrugs it off like it's fine. They should be able to do things like this. What's the point in visiting all of these cities if they don't get to experience them? Staying cooped up in the hotel room like hermits doesn't count as an experience.

“We'll go get Paul. It'll be fine, come on.”

Liam shrugs, but then he eventually nods and follows Niall because it's impossible to say no to him. Even when his ideas are terrible.

Which they are – it's affirmed as soon as they step outside and the girls notice them. They scream and charge over to where they are like a swarm of bees. Niall freezes in place and tenses up, his arms shaking. His wide eyes are hidden behind his sunglasses. Which were a terrible choice for a disguise since everyone knows what they look like.

“Oh god,” he chokes out, knees buckling underneath him. They've been mobbed before, and they probably will be again, but that doesn't mean he ever gets used to it.

“Niall,” Liam glances back, even though he's being sheltered by security. “Niall's freaked out,” he says, even though the security team is well aware of that fact.

Niall can't even move, but Paul manages to pick him up and get him back towards the hotel. The girls are still surrounding them, but Liam reaches back and touches Niall's arm. “It's okay,” he says, even though his tone of voice suggests otherwise.

Niall just winces.

They get back into the hotel room minutes later, away from the girls and from the mob and to where it's actually quiet. Paul's still holding onto Niall, knowing full well that he's in full panic mode and that his legs are probably non-functional at that point.

“Just, bring him to my room,” Liam says as they walk through the halls.

“Yeah,” Niall gets out, still shaking and clinging to Paul.

They get back to Liam's room right away, and Paul sets Niall down on the bed where he curls up into a ball. He looks down at him with concern and then back up at Liam.

Liam just nods. “Thanks,” he says, and Paul leaves the room.

“Hey,” he says, stroking Niall's back as he lies down beside him. “It's alright, they're gone.”

Every time they get mobbed and it never gets better. He never gets used to it. This is by far the worst part of his job. Niall nods his head, but tears slide out of his eyes and run down his face.

So Liam just lays with him, holding him while he trembles and calms down.

“I just wanted to go out and eat pizza,” Niall sobs after a few minutes. He's still freaked out, but he's starting to feel a little better. At least he can think straight again.

“I know,” Liam soothes. “We'll order in. Anything you want.”

Niall just nods his head, rolling over. He glances over at Liam and he actually smiles a little bit. Every time he's needed someone, Liam's been there for him. And he's always been able to make him feel better, no matter the situation. He can't imagine being with anyone else.

“I love you,” he mutters before he even realises the words he's saying.

Liam doesn't even hesitate. “Love you too,” he replies, kissing Niall slowly on the mouth.

Niall smiles easily, snuggling up to Liam and taking a deep breath. The pizza can wait. 

“Thank you,” he says softly. “For everything.”

Liam just kisses the top of Niall's head. No thanks are needed – he'll continue to protect Niall for as long as he needs him to.


End file.
